Still buzzing after the Grand Final? Probably not if you're a St Helens fan, after being condemned to bridesmaid status for the fifth consecutive year, although even then there's no need to despair. As a blogger posted on the bottom of The Observer's report from Old Trafford, you could regard Saturday's game as an equivalent of the 1995 Regal Trophy final just before the start of the Super League era, when a young Saints team coached by the under-rated Eric Hughes lost to Wigan but offered the promise of much better times to come.

In retrospect this year was probably a little too early for young players in key positions such as Jonny Lomax and Lee Gaskell. Saints certainly exceeded any realistic expectations by making it to Old Trafford in a season in which they were ravaged by injuries and played all their home matches in Widnes. Next year they'll have a new stadium, they've already made three sound signings in Lance Hohaia, Anthony Laffranchi and Mark Flanagan, and the youngsters will be hardened by their 2011 experience. Obviously they'll miss James Graham but Saints have every reason to approach 2012 with optimism, once they've recovered from Old Trafford agony yet again.

Anyway all that was a bit of a diversion from the main thrust of this week's blog, the Set of Six end-of-season awards. Waiting until the end of the season is a luxury that the Man of Steel cannot match with any amount of glitz. But the main point, as ever, is to stimulate debate – so if you haven't registered to comment yet, get stuck in now, in plenty of time for the international season. Here goes.

Team of the season

Leeds Rhinos. I'd love to be contrary and give it to Saints, for the achievements outlined above. Warrington were entertaining table toppers but lost their only two tough knockout matches of the year. Wigan would have a better claim than the Wolves, having won the Challenge Cup, competed strongly in the World Club Challenge and kept battling despite running out of steam in the play-offs. The Catalans have been the biggest improvers. And some of our regular readers could mount persuasive arguments for Featherstone and Swinton, after their success in the Co-operative Championship. But the Rhinos, after infuriating themselves with their inconsistency for more than half the season, managed to reach Wembley, gave a mighty performance when they got there and then roused themselves again to win a fourth Grand Final in five years after finishing fifth in the table.

Coach of the season

Trent Robinson (Catalan Dragons). Brian McDermott is receiving enough recognition now – and there will be a little bit of the contrary Yorkshireman that's probably pining for a bit of stick. He's done a terrific job, and wasn't it good to see him embracing with his former Bradford front-row partner James Lowes when the final hooter sounded at Old Trafford? After a nightmare at Warrington, Jimmy's coaching career would now seem to be back on track. But neither he nor McDermott can claim to have transformed the culture of his club as dramatically as Robinson has done down in Perpignan, lifting the team to a sixth-placed finish from rock bottom last year and changing the main language in training from Australian-English to French. He was even seen reading Il Principe by Machiavelli on one of his regular flights from France.

Player of the season

Sam Tomkins (Wigan) / James Roby (St Helens). I know it's sitting on the fence, but how do you compare apples with oranges? Tomkins is the most exciting attacking talent British rugby league has seen since Ellery Hanley, with the possible exception of Jason Robinson. Roby is just a freak, having smashed all previous records by running for 5,000 metres in 26 appearances in the regular season. Rangi Chase has been wonderfully watchable but he just hasn't been involved in enough of the really big games to be rated alongside those two. Honourable mentions too for Michael Monaghan and Kevin Sinfield, who would nudge Sean O'Loughlin, Thomas Leuluai, Ben Westwood and Jon Wilkin out of my top five.

Young Player of the Year

Lomaskell (St Helens). For those who don't follow the fake Royce Simmons Twitter feed, that's the composite name for Jonny Lomax and Lee Gaskell, the two rookies who have combined so effectively at half-back for pretty much the whole season. I'll allow myself a top five here too, completed by the Wigan wing Josh Charnley and two terrific hookers – Daryl Clark of Castleford and Eloi Pelissier from the Catalan Dragons.

Referee of the Year

This award seems to have mysteriously disappeared from the Man of Steel ceremony but, while Phil Bentham's excellent Grand Final performance confirmed him as Super League's leading official, I'd like to recognise the Thursday night Championship regulars Matt Thomason and Clint Sharrad.

Goal of the Year

Hard to go beyond two from Sinfield – in extra time of the cup semi-final against Castleford, and the last-ditch winner in the Super League semi at Warrington. Kirk Dixon's golden points for Cas at Wakefield in the earlier rounds of the cup are worth a shout as well.

Drop Goal of the Year

Scott Dureau for the Catalans against Huddersfield in April.

Pass of the Year

Match of the season

Again there's probably no need to go beyond the bleedin' obvious. The Grand Final was terrific but probably shaded by Leeds's win at Warrington the previous week. We had the best Challenge Cup final in five years at the new Wembley and Wigan's wins against Warrington and St Helens in the previous rounds were also memorable. I suspect there would be plenty more NRL contenders if I was able to subscribe to Premier Sports. But an honourable mention for another string of Thursday night Championship crackers, and two humdingers in the Northern Rail Cup – Halifax's win at Featherstone in the semi before losing to Leigh in the final.

Cultural event of the season

Broken Time, Mick Martin's play about the 1895 breakaway. If you've not seen it yet, get your tickets for the final few shows of the current run, in Huddersfield the week after next.

Rant of the season

Nearly done now but we need to recognise some of the entertainment provided by our coaches. Huddersfield's Nathan Brown is generally good value but he surpassed himself after the Giants thrashed Leeds at Headingley. One quote sums it up beautifully – "As you can see I'm quite cranky" – but fortunately, it's still possible to listen to the whole tirade . A word, too, for Mal Meninga's considered verdict of "the faceless men of influence" from the Sydney rugby league establishment. In a column for Brisbane's Sunday Mail after his Queensland team had won yet another State of Origin series, Big Mal described them as "rats and filth that tried to poison a monumental team with lies, personal attacks, arrogance and disrespect".

Quotes of the season

"He's got a cork in his backside" – Wigan coach Michael Maguire explaining why Ryan Hoffman had been forced off at Huddersfield.

"I think we had something special here for all of Wales not just north or south but unfortunately it was run by a pelican who then sold us to a couple of dingbats" – Ryan O'Hara, the Crusaders captain, with surely the most off-message comment ever to appear in a match programme after the management had withdrawn their application for a Super League licence.

"If I start telling Steve how to ref, he might have a look at that score and tell me how to coach – then we would have a drama" – Nathan Brown after Huddersfield had been on the wrong end of a heavy penalty count from Steve Ganson in a play-off at Warrington.

"I'm going to stick my head in a bucket of sand. Tell me when it's over and we'll play a game of rugby league" – Brian McDermott not a fan of the Club Call system.

"We've all got to go and say 'woooo'" – McDermott again, having been informed that he will have to attend the Club Call announcement in Wigan

"To be honest with you I don't know what I'm doing myself. It's all instinctive." Rob Burrow on his Grand Final brilliance. "We were an easy target – Dad's Army, a lot of people were calling us. But coming with Dad's Army there's a lot of experience." Kevin Sinfield after lifting the Super League trophy for the fifth time in eight Grand Finals.